Whisky, and why I drink it

It's the most diverse, unusual, variable, interesting, delicious beverage on the planet. One could drink two drams a day for the next 50 years and never discover all there is to taste, smell and savour.

A new distillery on Sweden's west coast. This is very promising whisky, peaty, with huge fruit notes that show through that wreath of smoke and peat. Excellent nose, needs quite a bit of water, but opens up a lot. Still sour, more notes of peaches and other overripe fruit.

Old fashioned whisky, the bartender said, and old fashioned whisky it is. Quite sweet, slightly smoky, bitter notes, even savoury. Good fruit cut with peat and a slight hint of fragrant smoke. I guess the only way this could be more old fashioned is if it were matured in herring barrels, like Campbeltown whisky used to be...

Light and delicious! I had the sister bottling to this, the 2006, and I remember it well. This one is a bit different, fruity and slightly tannic, plenty of cereally notes as well. Very good stuff, I always think I need to drink more Irish whisky.

This is sweet neat, dried persimmons, marzipan, plenty of jammy, baked notes. With water it opens up beautifully, becoming ever so savoury, with a hint of rubbery, slightly sulphury fried eggs. I've tasted this note in Ben Nevis before, and it's certainly very distinctive.

More English whisky! Tart and slightly bitter, immensely citrusy. It's not a whisky for all moods, maybe a hot day where one desires something refreshing, and perhaps the first whisky one drinks after a stressful day. I certainly knew that I wouldn't be drinking this one on holiday.

It's taken me a few years to try the 'new' Auchentoshan 12 yo, a replacement for the old 10 yo. It's more robust than what I normally associate with Auchentoshan, with strong vital notes of dark chocolate and coffee. There's only a light dusting of mint and lemon zest, some of the few hints that this is brother to the 10 yo.

From the very new Wolfburn distillery, this isn't much more than 3 years old. Matured in Islay casks, and you can tell - peat and smoke in the background. It's overlaid by stewed apples and peaches though, and plenty of nuts as well. There's a good savoury meatiness in the finish. Good stuff.

This is the sister bottling to the White Oak blend, the whisky that didn't taste like whisky. This one is definitely whisky though - ooked and dried fruits in abundance, with plenty of spicy pepper in the finish. The hints of paper and white grapes remind me of its sibling.

Matured in Japan from Scottish malt spirit and Canadian grain spirit. Hard to classify - there's a bit of cooked fruits which is quite Japanese, but also a lot of light fruit notes which I identify as Scottish. Not sure what Canadian whisky tastes like. Pretty good.

Older version of the Redbreast range. This one is appley and volatile, huge magic marker notes, followed by meaty, slightly savoury flavours. Great cooked fruit and cereal on the tongue too. Excellent stuff.

Another old Caperdonich (there aren't many young ones). This one is redolent of orange peel, and rhubarb and custard sweets. Heavy, sweet and lovely. Huge spicy notes on the tongue and the finish, with intriguing hints of red peppers.

Very sherried, plenty of red fruit and chocolate. Also something gelatiney on the tongue, marshmallows, perhaps. Decent entry level dram from Glenfiddich, the range is looking in good shape these days.